Hezekiah h



. H.'H. RICHARDS;

IRON FOB. SLEIGH SHAETS.

No. 299,495. Patented May 2'7, v188 1.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HEZEKIAH H. RICHARDS, OF RAOINE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR OF ON E-HALF TOWILLIAM S. BUFFHAM AND THOMAS DICKINSON, BOTH OF SAME PLACE.

IRON FOR SLEIGH-SHAFTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 299,495, dated May 27,1884.

Application filed November 17, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HEZEKIAH -H. RIGH- ARDS, of Racine, in the county ofRacine and State of NVisconsin, have invented certain Improvements inIrons for Sleigh-Shafts, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in a novel construction of thills for cutters orsleighs, by which all tenons are dispensed with and very cheap,

IO strong, and efficient thills are produced. 7 I In the accompanyingdrawings, Figure 1 rep resents a perspective view of a pair of thillsembodying my improvements; Figs. 2 and 3, Y

perspective views of the thill-irons; and Fig. 1 5 4, a cross-sectionshowing the form of said rons.

The present invention is in its general features quite analogous to thatfor which Letters Patent were granted to me on the 13th day of December,1881, No. 250,970, but differstherefrom in certain material points,whichwill be pointed out. I desire to say here, however, that. all mattersshown and claimed in my aforesaid patent are disclaimed in this. Out- 25 ter-thills, unlike those of buggies and carriages, are made with twocross bars or rails, one atthe rear end of the thills and the other inadvance thereof, to which the whiftletree is applied. In order that thethills may be shifted laterally, the back rail or cross-bar is commonlyextended outward past the sides of the thills, as shown in Fig. 1.

Having now pointed out the difference in the construction of. buggy andcutter thills, I

will proceed to describe those which constitute the subject-matter ofthe present invention.

A A indicate the shafts or thills; B, the forward cross-bar, to whichthe whiffletree is or 0 may be applied; and O, the rear cross bar orrail, which is usually furnished with eyes a, through which is passed arod for attaching the thills to a cutter. The thills or shafts are madewithout mortises, and the cross-bars are made without tenons; and tojoin the parts and bind them firmly together, I provide thillirons D,each consisting of a body portion, 1), of inverted U form incross-section, and of a length slightly exceeding the distancebetweenthe outer faces of the two bars B 0 when the parts are put together.These irons are preferably curved upward in the direction of theirlength to give the thills a proper height, and more especially tofacilitate casting, enabling the pattern to be drawn easily from themold, which I am enabled to do without the use of cores or otherexpensive devices. The irons are also formed with lateral sleeves c andd of like cross-section with the body portion 1), to receive the ends ofthe cross-bars B O. The thills A A are inserted into the hollow orconcave under sides of the irons D, and firmly bolted or rivetedtherein; and the cross-bars B (l are likewise inserted into the hollowor concave under side of the sleeves cand d, and similarly bolted orsecured in place, the irons thus forming a rigid and durable connectionbetween the shafts or thills A A and their crossbars B 0 without the aidor necessity of tenons or mortises, which, besides adding to the cost ofmanufacture, materially weaken the parts.

In order that the rear cross-bar, .G, mayproject at the side, one of theirons has its rear sleeve, d, open at both ends, as shown in Fig. 3.

The parts D will preferably be rendered malleable in the well known way,and the sleeves or the sleeves and body may be made with ears to befolded completely around the parts embraced by them, as in my patentabove referred to, or merely to cover the top and sides.

If it should be thought desirable to place the irons beneath instead ofabove the wood, it may be done without departing from the invention.

I do not claim the laterally-extended rear cross-bar, as'that is an oldand common idea.

Having thus described my invention, what '1 claim is- 9o 1. Theherein-described thills for cutters, consisting of shafts A A,cross-bars B O, and irons D, provided with lateral sleeves a d,substantially as and for the purpose explained.

2. A thill-iron consisting of concave body 9 b, provided with lateralsleeves c and d, sub stantially as shown and described.

3. A pair of thills for a cutter, consisting of through the other, andprojecting beyond the side of the thills.

5. A thill-iron consisting of hollow body b, curved upward in thedirection of its length, 15 and provided with hollow lateral sleeves cd, as shown.

HEZEKIAH II. RICHARDS.

Vitnesses:

J urns \V. PALMER, SAML. XV.

